Perrigo forecasts sunny days now and in the future for private-label OTC

NEW YORK — Over the past year, store-brand sales of over-the-counter products have helped maintain a slight growth through the sector, and with the number of proposed prescription-to-OTC switches on the horizon, the future looks especially bright, Joe Papa, Perrigo chairman, president and CEO, told attendees of the 30th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference held here Monday.

According to Papa, total private-label OTC sales were up 6.4% through Dec. 18, versus a 2.5% decline in the sale of branded items that netted a plus-0.3% in overall category growth. A lot of that can be attributed to the McNeil Consumer recalls in the past two years, and McNeil has reported its brands would fill shelves and supply chains once again no later than mid-2012, Papa reported. "They’ve talked about reentering into the liquid market in October, November December of 2011 and they said they would reenter in the oral solid market January, February March of 2012 with a complete return sometime around midyear 2012," Papa said. "I will say that the liquids at this time, they’re not fully back … they’re not completely back at this time for example in the Tylenol suspension."

And while McNeil’s return to market is expected to be charged by a significant consumer ad spend later this year, a factor that may turn sales of branded OTCs overall favorable, Papa was still bullish regarding store brand OTC products for two reasons — profit margins and switch. Papa noted that typical private-label margins exceed 50% versus 20% yielded from the branded equivalents. "Critical to this equation though is also the saving for the consumer. Usually there’s about a 25%, 30% saving for the consumer and this is in essence the reason we exist. We are same quality and effectiveness in terms of our manufacturing capabilities, but offer the consumer about a 25% to 30% saving and obviously much higher margin for the retailers and this is really what’s driving the profitability for the retailers and why they continue to give us more shelf space for the products."

Looking forward, Papa said Perrigo has more than 45 new products in the hopper, representing more than $190 million of revenue for the company’s fiscal 2012. "We have a generic version of Clarinex, [though it’s] unclear whether that will be a prescription product or an OTC, he said. Other OTC store brands expected to launch in the next six months include Prevacid, Deson, Allegra D-12, Mucinex, Claritin D and Rogaine Foam.

Beyond that, Papa projected between $10 billion to $15 billion worth of prescription sales will transition to the over-the-counter market. "We are really excited about what it means for the future for us," he said. "We’ll launch our version of Prevacid later this year in May of 2012, but also then the rest of the proton inhibitors like Nexium, Protonix, Aciphex are all examples of potential switch candidates and then we think of some other exciting ones like potentially Voltar and topical gel Diclofenac Gel, all representing good switch candidates to move from prescription status to OTC that will help drive our growth beyond just the next 12 months."

Endo addresses possible short-term supply of Opana ER, other drugs

CHADDS FORD, Pa. — Endo Pharmaceuticals announced a short-term supply constraint of analgesic products, including Opana ER, due to the temporary shutdown of a manufacturing facility operated by Novartis Consumer Health.

"We are working collaboratively with the [Food and Drug Administration] to minimize the disruption to patients currently on therapy. Given existing inventories, the expected restart of Novartis production and our ability to shift production to other facilities we believe the supply constraints of our products should be limited," Endo COO Julie McHugh said. "With Novartis as the sole manufacturer of the current formulation of Opana ER, we plan to temporarily moderate demand of the product by asking physicians to refrain from starting new patients on Opana ER in order to minimize disruption for patients currently on the product. We currently expect this to be a short-term issue and we remain focused on working with the healthcare community to optimize the continued supply of our products for current patients."

The following products may experience a short-term supply constraint include:

Opana (oxymorphone hydrochloride) tablets CII;

Oxymorphone hydrochloride tablets CII;

Percocet (oxycodone hydrochloride and acetaminophen USP) tablets CII;

Percodan (oxycodone hydrochloride and aspirin, USP) tablets CII;

Endocet (oxycodone hydrochloride and acetaminophen USP) tablets CII;

Endodan (oxycodone hydrochloride and aspirin, USP) tablets CII;

Morphine sulfate extended-release tablets CII; and

Zydone (hydrocodone bitartrate/acetaminophen tablets, USP) CIII.

As previously reported, Novartis Consumer Health suspended production at its Lincoln, Neb.-based facility to implement manufacturing process improvements, which will address possible rare instances of errors in production.

Novartis Consumer Health issues voluntary recall of certain OTCs sold in the United States

BASEL, Switzerland — Following the recent voluntary suspension of operations and shipments from its Lincoln, Neb.-based facility, Novartis Consumer Health announced a voluntary recall of some of its over-the-counter products sold in the United States.

The company said it is voluntarily recalling all lots of select bottle packaging configurations from retailers of Excedrin and NoDoz products with expiration dates of Dec. 20, 2014 or earlier, in addition to Bufferin and Gas-X Prevention products with expiration dates of Dec. 20, 2013 or earlier.

The voluntary recall is precautionary, the company said, and follows consumer complaints of chipped and broken pills and inconsistent bottle packaging. There have been no related adverse events reported with the issues leading to the recall, the company noted.

Information on the affected bottle sizes, and related expiration dates will be available at NovartisOTC.com.

Novartis Consumer Health’s parent company, Novartis Group, said it is fully committed to ensure the quality, safety and integrity of its products.

RELATED NEWS

Coming toward the end of the calendar year, there will be many consumers perusing purchases of over-the-counter medicines and devices in an effort to deplete their flexible spending accounts, many of which still contain a “use-it-or-lose-it” provision.

Private label just keeps chugging along.
Thanks to strong consumer demand for lower-priced alternatives to national brands and retailer desires to differentiate themselves from the competition, private label seems to keep gaining more traction in the retail world.

In a Journal of Advanced Nursing study of 90 adults with type 2 diabetes published last week, female gender, elevated blood sugar levels, neuropathic pain, and fatigue were related to sleep disturbance, even after controlling for factors such as age, diabetes duration, depressive symptoms and distress.

Ascensia Diabetes Care, based out of Basel, Switzerland, is showing its support for World Diabetes Day 2017 by publishing 30 portraits of inspiring women who are making significant contributions to advancing diabetes care.

Forgotten Password

Registration complete

REGISTER

USERNAME *

Spaces are allowed; punctuation is not allowed except for periods, hyphens, and underscores.

E-MAIL ADDRESS *

A valid e-mail address. All e-mails from the system will be sent to this address. The e-mail address is not made public and will only be used if you wish to receive a new password or wish to receive certain news or notifications by e-mail.

Password *

Confirm Password *

Please choose a password for your account; it must be 8 - 30 characters. .

First Name *

Last Name *

Company Name *

Job Title *

ZIP *

Are you a *

Retailer or Healthcare professional

Non-Retailer

How many stores do you operate?: *

Which best describes the business/industry you work in?: *

Which best describes your job title?: *

Please select the newsletters you would like to subscribe to

DSN A.M.
Daily news stories covering the retail drug industry

Breaking News
First-to-the-market with developing stories in the industry